Reincarnation of the Blood Demon - Chapter 30

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Blood Demon Transmigration
Chapter 30
“Where is your main base?”
“Aaaahhhhh!”

A scream that seemed to tear the ears asunder pierced through the dark forest.
The cry was so loud one might have thought it would reach Seolyong County beyond the woods, but it did not—the Hwanhon Sect’s secret formation sealed the forest like an iron cage.

“All that bluster, and in the end you just writhe and scream like anyone else.”

Jeok Un-hui let out a soft laugh and crouched down slowly.
As he extended his left hand, the trembling head of the Hwanhon Sect disciple was seized in his grip.

“Open your mouth again. What was so glorious about it?”
“N-no, I—!”

The disciple’s face twisted with terror as his mouth fell open in panic.
Jeok Un-hui paid no heed and slammed the man’s head downward.

Crack!

“Ugh!”

The man’s nose shattered against the stone floor, blood spraying. Jeok Un-hui brought his hand down again.

“Again.”
“I-I was wrong—!”

Crack!

“Speak.”
“Give me a chance—!”

Crack!

“And beg.”
“. . .”

Crack—!

Jeok Un-hui released his grip.
The limp disciple twitched sporadically, no sound left in him.

“Worthless dog.”

Without bothering to wipe the blood from his cheek, Jeok Un-hui shifted his gaze to the side.
Beyond the shattered remnants of a vessel, leaning against the altar’s pillar, the Sorcerer exhaled in ragged gasps—a deep wound carved across his abdomen.

“You think you can handle the Hwanhon Sect?”

The Sorcerer spoke thus with a pallid complexion, striving for composure, but fear was already plainly visible in both his eyes.

“I have no doubt.”
“Then—”
“I have no doubt I can handle them.”

The Sorcerer’s eyes narrowed, and Jeok Un-hui chuckled and walked toward him.

“Why is the Hwanhon Sect staging this ritual? It seems far removed from your martial ways.”
“It is all part of the Grand Plan—”

Crack!

Jeok Un-hui brought his heel down on the sorcerer’s leg without mercy. A new joint formed along the shin, and the sorcerer’s eyes snapped wide open.

“Enough of this pathetic theater.”
“……!”
“Answer the questions I ask you.”

The sorcerer’s pupils trembled violently.

‘……How?’

Even if this had been a close-range ambush exploiting a natural weakness, the opponent was still just a boy barely at Earth Rank. And that was before accounting for the incompetent priest lying dead over there — with those numbers factored in, the advantage should have been theirs.
And yet……

‘I couldn’t even grasp what happened.’

Meeting Jeok Un-hui’s gaze, the sorcerer’s heart thundered violently in his chest. The fear that seized him was far more powerful than the pain shooting through his leg.

“Have I still not done enough?”

At the quiet way he posed the question, the sorcerer could hold out no longer. His head dropped.

“The Sect Master said…… he was researching a new Grand Technique.”
“A Grand Technique?”
“A method to strengthen the sect’s overall power, he said…… I don’t know the details myself. Truly, I don’t.”
“Where is the main base?”

The only ones guarding this altar were the sorcerer and one fool lying unconscious over there. For a sect as large as the Hwanhon Sect, there had to be more.

“…….”

The sorcerer clamped his mouth shut again. Jeok Un-hui let out a soft laugh and pressed down on the broken shin once more.

Crunch—

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
“It has to be somewhere in this forest. Hide what you need to hide.”

Even for the Hwanhon Sect, creating formations of this caliber beyond their own territory would have been difficult. He’d walked in bloodlessly thanks to that fool disciple, but the Illusion Formation Array in this forest — glimpsed only briefly — was surprisingly sophisticated. Advanced enough that even he couldn’t have broken through it easily, given his current state.

‘But that’s exactly what I was counting on.’

Because the formation was so well-made, the defensive perimeter had to be correspondingly lax. The Demon Blood Formation had played its role as a convincing smoke screen.

Squeeze—.

Thinking this through, he applied more force to his foot.

“T-the center! The center! All you need to do is head to the center! There are altars scattered throughout, but they all converge toward the heart of the formation. The Sect Master and the elders oversee it all!”

The sorcerer shrieked, his words tumbling out in a convulsive rush. He could no longer control his breathing; thick saliva dripped from his mouth, stretching between his lips like spider silk.

“Is that the truth?”
“……How could I lie now, of all times?”
“Quite the display of loyalty. And I’ve hardly pressed you at all.”

Jeok Un-hui smiled with a twisted edge. The Sorcerer fought to steady his trembling breath as a thought crystallized in his mind.

‘……We’ve brought in something we should never have let through.’

They had always been the hunters.
Their vaunted Illusion Formation Array had served as a formidable stronghold to the outside world while functioning as a slaughterhouse no one would ever discover—but the intrusion of an unstoppable predator was a variable they had never anticipated.
The fortress they’d been so proud of had become a prison locking them inside.
Yet they had surrendered their secrets so readily because they believed that with the Sect Master and elders gathered at the central compound, even this beast could be hunted down.

‘Your thoughts are written all over your face.’

No laughter came, but Jeok Un-hui forced his lips into a smile nonetheless.
To do otherwise was to risk tearing this damned wretch into a thousand pieces on the spot.

“Are there sacrifices still alive?”
“……I’m not certain. There may be others at the other altars…….”
“I see. Then I’ve learned all I need.”

If that was the case, there was no reason to keep him alive.
Jeok Un-hui extended his hand slowly toward the Sorcerer, and the Sorcerer mumbled something under his breath.

“……I’ve committed no crime. I only followed the doctrine of our sect.”
“Yes. You won’t die cleanly.”
“……?”

The Sorcerer’s eyes narrowed in confusion at the words, but Jeok Un-hui’s palm closed over his face.

Crunch—

A sensation of Qi Absorption bloomed from the palm. At the truly ominous aura, the Sorcerer’s eyes flew wide open.

“What—what are you——”
“From this moment on.”

Staring directly into those terror-stricken eyes, Jeok Un-hui smiled coldly.

“Everything you’ve built becomes mine.”

The instant those words left his lips.

Crunch-crunch-crunch-crunch——!!

The Sorcerer’s True Qi reversed its flow through the blood meridians, rushing outward at terrible speed.
Without mercy, a current laden with pure malice turned upon itself in violent reversal.
The Qi the Sorcerer had cultivated and refined surged through his body from within, shredding every blood meridian as it went.

“Gaaaaaaaahhhhh——!”

The agony that seized the Sorcerer was incomparable to anything he’d known before—not even to a blade’s strike, not even to a shattered leg.
He could not black out. The current flowing from Jeok Un-hui’s palm stimulated his brain relentlessly, keeping him conscious.
What should have been an instant relative to his years of life stretched into an eternity of torment. It was living hell.

“Hrrgh……”

When the capillaries in his eyes had burst completely, leaving them bloodshot red, Jeok Un-hui still did not look away.

“Worthless rubbish. Disgusting.”

When the absorption was complete and Jeok Un-hui withdrew his hand, the Sorcerer’s face had frozen into something truly grotesque.
Unable to withstand the agony, his spirit had perished before his flesh could follow.
Without sparing a glance at the corpse that had already ceased to breathe, Jeok Un-hui rose to his feet and moved forward.
Deeper into the forest. Onward.

* * *

Meanwhile, on Xinglong Mountain in Gansu Province.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Beneath a merciless sun that seemed intent on scorching the very earth, a scream tore across the mountainside with such force the stone trembled.
Red Cloud Sect disciples in dark crimson martial robes lay prostrate on the ground in a push-up position.
Each one bearing a massive iron plate across their back.

“Hold it. Get back up.”

Ju Yi-gyeom, sprawled lazily in the shade of a pavilion, tapped a finger idly as he spoke.

“Yes, yes—you can’t rest yet. Again. One more time. That’s it. Perfect.”
“More, I can’t—!”
“Already done for? That’s all you’ve got? Should I tell the Sect Master?”
“Ahhhhhhh!”

The moment “Sect Master” was mentioned, the disciple shrieked and forced his body upright.

“There. It works if you just do it. No excuses—”

Ju Yi-gyeom, who had been smirking, suddenly turned his gaze elsewhere.
The Red Cloud Sect’s chief leaders—the heads of the branch clans in Nanhua County—wore deeply uncomfortable expressions as they watched their subordinates labor.

“Is there something on your mind?”
“No, it’s nothing—”
“Ahem…”

It felt deeply wrong to watch their disciples suffer in the blazing heat while they themselves remained sheltered in the shade.
The disciples, still enduring their trial, lifted their heads and gazed at their leaders with desperate longing.

‘Sect Master…’
‘Please…’

Those bright eyes, burning with an almost fevered intensity.

The oldest among them, the Cheonryuhoe Master, finally cleared his throat and ventured to speak.

“All the same, this seems a bit harsh…”
“There were orders that anyone with complaints should be stripped of their rank and made to suffer the same. Do you have a complaint?”

To Ju Yi-gyeom’s swift reply, the Cheonryuhoe Master continued in a grave tone.

“…Isn’t that a bit light? The warriors of our Cheonryuhoe aren’t broken by something so trivial.”
“Ah, so that’s what you meant! Truly, you are formidable, great leader. Your spirit is remarkable.”

Ju Yi-gyeom clapped his hands in admiration and turned his attention back to the disciples baking in the sun.

“You heard that? One iron plate wasn’t enough. Add three more.”
“…!!!”

At a sound like a bolt from the blue, the members of the Red Cloud Sect—even the martial artists of the Cheonryuhoe—opened their eyes wide and stared at the Cheonryuhoe Master.

‘The bastard!’
‘What the hell!’

If hatred could take physical form, they would have been torn to pieces long ago.
The Cheonryuhoe Master glanced away, telling himself once more that all of this was for his subordinates.

“Hm.”

Ju Yi-gyeom, who had been chuckling at the sight of it all, suddenly shifted his gaze.
Westward, toward where Seolyong County lay.

‘…He insisted on going alone. I hope he’s alright.’

But worry alone solved nothing, so Ju Yi-gyeom flicked his fingers once more.

“Very well, once more!”

* * *

The Hwanhon Sect, Central Altar.

With the Sect Master and all the elders gathered round, an eerie silence crept unpleasantly through the air.

……

Every eye turned toward one place.

Before the altar, a large stone tablet jutted up to about the height of a man’s waist.
Small points radiated in chaotic profusion from a great circle at its center, all of them glowing with vivid crimson light.
This was the apparatus for confirming the status of each branch. More precisely, it was a device that displayed the ‘vessels’ of the altar.
The large circle at the center signified the grandest vessel of the core altar, while the small points represented the vessels of the branches scattered throughout the forest.
And those points were now—

Blink.

“What on earth is this…?”

Blink.
Blink.
Blink.

At a rapid pace, one by one they were going dark.
In a straight line.
Toward the core altar at the center.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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